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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29202813">Unfulfilled hearts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/asckj1/pseuds/asckj1'>asckj1</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, MDZS, Mo Dao Zu Shi, 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, First Siege of the Burial Mounds (Módào Zǔshī), M/M, Nightless City (Módào Zǔshī), Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:14:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,357</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29202813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/asckj1/pseuds/asckj1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Wei Ying, please let me take you to Gusu. Please.”<br/>“I will protect you with my life. Please let me take you to Gusu.”<br/>“Please… please allow me to be with you.”<br/>"Get Lost."</p><p>An improvisation on what might have happened immediately after Wei Wuxian slaughtered 3000 cultivators in Nightless City on the day his beloved shijie died in front of his eyes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Wei WuXian | Lan WangJi, Wei Wuxian - Lan Wangji, Wei Ying | Lan Zhan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Unfulfilled hearts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wei Wuxian was utterly devastated seeing the lifeless state of his beloved shijie. It was as if the whole world had crushed his heart completely. The extreme grief and sadness of losing his one pillar of unconditional love and support, gone just like that, made him lose his mind. He played his flute like a madman, manipulating the fierce corpses. With one slash, the person who had stabbed shijie was torn into two. Wei Wuxian was no longer conscious of what exactly he was doing, he was simply manipulating the corpses in order to completely wipe out every single person present there. The Stygian seal attached to his flute swung wildly as he continued to command the corpses, and at some point, had started to take control of Wei Wuxian’s body as well.</p><p>Lan Wangji was pushing the cultivators away and fighting the corpses so that more lives would not be lost. But no matter how skilled he was in his swordsmanship, he could not handle the overwhelming number of corpses ganging up on the cultivators on the ground. The entire arena in the Nightless City had turned into a chaotic battlefield. Blood was being spilt left, right and centre. Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, Lan Qiren, Nie Mingjue, Jin Guangshan, Jin Jixun, name an elite cultivator and one could only see them struggling with this huge number of corpses while trying to defend themselves. Wei Wuxian’s formidable dark art was yet again clearly displayed in front of every single cultivator today in the arena. The battle dragged on and on, exhausting everyone. Wei Wuxian simply wouldn’t stop playing his flute and so the corpses wouldn’t stop killing.</p><p>Lan Wangji was desperately seeking to break away from a corpse and this time he barely managed to. He rushed over to Wei Wuxian who was standing on top of a remote building at a corner of the arena. When Lan Wangji approached him, he didn’t move a muscle. He just simply kept playing the flute as if he was a lifeless doll being manipulated. The Stygian seal had exhausted his body so much that his consciousness was simply not there. The only thing that indicated that Wei Wuxian was still alive was the tears incessantly flowing through his lifeless eyes. He was surrounded in thick miasma. Lan Wangji’s heart could not take in the miserable state Wei Wuxian was in. It hurt his heart really badly. He just called out loudly “Wei Ying!!!” and slapped Wei Wuxian’s hand with a little force. Wei Wuxian’s hand slumped. The fierce corpses fell one by one like puppets whose strings were suddenly cut. Lan Wangji gently rubbed the spot where he slapped Wei Wuxian’s hand and checked if he didn’t hurt him. Then, very quickly, he lifted Wei Wuxian in his arms. He seemed so much lighter than he thought he was. Lan Wangji’s heart squeezed in his chest. He knew that Wei Wuxian was not in good shape, especially since he started successfully using the Stygian seal, but right now when he lifted Wei Wuxian, he understood exactly how badly Wei Wuxian’s body had been suffering the effects of the dark arts. Trying to not let his hands shake from the shock and extreme grief, he fled from the arena on his sword carrying Wei Wuxian in his arms. Wei Wuxian had committed a crime of the highest degree tonight and there would not be a single person who would forgive him for this. He had made an enemy out of every single cultivation group there was at the time and they absolutely would not spare his life now for what he had done. Lan Wangji of course understood this very clearly and so the only thought looping in his mind right now was that he wanted to somehow hide Wei Wuxian safely from the entire world and he would do absolutely anything to achieve it.</p><p>Lan Wangji had been hovering around a mountainous area in Yiling for some time, trying to search for a spot that would be sturdy and safe enough to hide Wei Wuxian. He did not go to the Burial Mounds because it would be an obvious place where the cultivators would come hunting for Wei Wuxian. He would glance at Wei Wuxian again and again for any signs of reactions from him. But every glance only crushed his heart further as Wei Wuxian did not show any reaction and he just pulled Wei Wuxian closer to himself in his arms every time. He finally found a small cave and landed at its entrance lightly. On rushing inside the cave, he found a large stone that looked like one could sit comfortably on it. He gently sat Wei Wuxian on it and went at the entrance of the cave quickly to check that no one had followed him till the cave. After assuring of safety, he went inside again. He stood in front of Wei Wuxian. Still no reaction from him. He knelt down and gently called out “Wei Ying”.</p><p>There was no reaction yet again. Wei Wuxian was still in a trance.</p><p>He gently took Wei Wuxian’s hand in his own and called out again in a tone of extreme worry, “Wei Ying”. He started transferring his spiritual energy to Wei Wuxian in the hope that his body might recover even just a tiny bit.</p><p>Wei Wuxian’s eyes were dead. But right now, his mind way replaying all the incidents from the time he met shijie for the first time in Lotus Pier, how she had convinced him to come down from a tree that he had climbed in fear when Jiang Cheng said that he will let out the dogs to chase him away, how when Jiang Cheng also came to search for Wei Wuxian following her and had fallen on his way running during the search, she had carried him and Jiang Cheng on her tiny body, how she would peel lotus seeds for him during dinner, how she would try to calm her mother down when she was angry at Wei Wuxian, how she had stood up for him during the hunting event on Phoenix Mountain when Jin Jixun and other cultivators had a fight with Wei Wuxian, how she had secretly come with Jiang Cheng to show her wedding dress to Wei Wuxian and at that time had asked him to give a name for her yet-to-be-born child and finally her horrible last moment he had witness just some time ago. He could not hear anything and his eyes barely had any focus at all. His senses had become so numb that he did not understand where he was or what he was doing. He just very faintly heard someone talk in a very gentle voice and could vaguely make out that this person had been calling out his name many times.</p><p>Lan Wangji felt extremely pained seeing Wei Wuxian sitting lifeless like this. The flambouyant boy and later a very dashing and daring man, who dazzled like the brightest stars in Lan Wangji’s eyes, was now reduced to this sorry state. Lan Wangji was still holding Wei Wuxian’s hand. He gently talked yet again, no longer able to contain his feelings.</p><p>“Wei Ying, please let me take you to Gusu. Please.”</p><p>…</p><p>“I will protect you with my life. Please let me take you to Gusu.”</p><p>…</p><p>“Please… please allow me to be with you.”</p><p>Tears started flowing from Lan Wangji’s eyes while he was still kneeling in front of Wei Wuxian and looking at him with an extremely worried face. He gently squeezed Wei Wuxian’s hand that was in his.</p><p>He hated that he could not be with Wei Wuxian to protect him at all times till now. When he had gotten news of Wei Wuxian separating from the Jiang sect and living in Yiling, he would visit Yiling every alternate day to find him. He knew that Wei Wuxian did not visit the marketplace of Yiling much because he did not want the sects to chase after him. He was very seriously protecting Wen Ning, Wen Qing and their remnant clansmen. But still, just to catch a glimpse of Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji would comb through the entire marketplace from morning till evening. Luckily, he did find him, twice. But they always parted with Wei Wuxian getting upset about Lan Wangji insisting him to come with him to Gusu. When Wei Wuxian showed him around Burial Mounds, Lan Wangji started visiting there secretly. He was very sad about the poor condition in which Wei Wuxian and the people he was protecting lived in. He knew that after news of the power of Wei Wuxian’s dark arts had reached people, many enthusiasts had started sending him offerings so that he could take them as his disciples. Sometimes the people would stand at the entrance of the Mounds with home-made food, fruits, clothes, basically all sort of gifts, till Wen Ning, Wen Qing, any of the Wen clansmen or Wei Wuxian himself showed up there and personally give it to them. Lan Wangji took advantage of this fact and would silently leave his share of things for Wei Wuxian and his associates while still staying clear of any suspicion from anyone. He had secretly also noted all the things Wei Wuxian liked to eat and so would many times leave baskets full of them.</p><p>Lan Wangji had also secretly taken care of many monsters and demons in Yiling because he had seen Wei Wuxian’s poor health and did not want him to strain his body in battles. Lan Wangji had always been doing things very secretly till now.</p><p>But no more. Right now, he wanted to throw away everything and just stay with Wei Wuxian. He wanted to take him to Gusu and really hide him from the entire world, even the people of the Lan sect. But he wanted Wei Wuxian’s approval to do so. He did not want to force him because he respected Wei Wuxian’s pride just as much. He was praying very hard that Wei Wuxian would at least show some reaction to his pleas. And yes, Wei Wuxian did react to his words this time. He saw Wei Wuxian’s hand in his own twitch just a tiny bit.</p><p>“Get lost…”</p><p>Lan Wangji’s eyes widened while his tears still flowed incessantly.</p><p>“Wei Ying…”</p><p>…</p><p>“Get lost…”, muttered Wei Wuxian yet again.</p><p>Lan Wangji felt as if a sword had been thrust really hard into his heart and had been twisted very cruelly.</p><p>Lan Wangji choked, “Wei… Ying…”</p><p>…</p><p>And Wei Wuxian spoke again, “Get lost…”</p><p>These two words were ringing in Lan Wangji’s ears even though Wei Wuxian had only said them in a very low voice and there was no other sound inside the cave.</p><p>Lan Wangji’s hand that was still holding Wei Wuxian’s trembled. Just then, Lan Wangji heard the sound of a commotion approaching the cave. He gently let go of Wei Wuxian’s hand and stood up. He turned around so that he was now hiding Wei Wuxian behind him, he quickly wiped his tears and drew out his sword. He was already exhausted from the long fights trying to dodge the corpses during the battle in the Nightless City. But the final massive blow came from Wei Wuxian and his words just now. Still, Lan Wangji had already resolved in his mind, he will protect Wei Wuxian with all his might right now.</p><p>One by one, 33 members of the Lan sect gathered in the cave, among them seniors disciples and elders from the sect.</p><p>Lan Qiren came walking up to Lan Wangji. As expected, he saw Lan Wangji was hiding Wei Wuxian behind him. Wei Wuxian was still sitting there lifelessly. Lan Qiren was furious at Lan Wangji’s behaviour already.</p><p>He yelled angrily at Lan Wangji, “Wangji!! Do you understand what you are doing?!”</p><p>Lan Wangji stayed silent. He was on high alert with his sword pointing at the sect members that had just come in.</p><p>Lan Qiren shouted once again, “Stop this! Hand him over right now! You’re protecting a criminal!”</p><p>Lan Wangji said in a firm but low voice, “No.”</p><p>Lan Xichen tried to persuade Lan Wangji, “Wangji, please listen. We won’t hurt him. Just listen to uncle.”</p><p>Lan Wangji answered yet again, “No.”</p><p>He refused to budge even a little.</p><p>What followed was another short battle inside the cave where Lan Wangji fiercely fought with his seniors and elders. This was the first time that the sect members had seen him behave this way. It was as if he was possessed by something.</p><p>The Lan elders, tactfully surrounded him to put some distance between him and Wei Wuxian, while the younger members backed them up for any possible hard hits from Lan Wangji. When one of the elders was just a hand’s length away from grabbing Wei Wuxian</p><p>
  <strong> <em>SLASH!</em> </strong>
</p><p>The elder’s hand that was about to grab Wei Wuxian was cleanly cut.</p><p>For the first time in his life, Lan Wangji had committed a great sin. He had harmed an elder of his own sect, an act that would be unforgivable for eternity. No one could believe what they just saw. One of the twin jades, the pride of Lan Qiren and the one person, whom every single younger sect member looked up to as an inspiration and every elder praised endlessly for his virtuous behaviour and wisdom, had turned into a madman.</p><p>Anger raging in the minds of all the members, a second round of rough sword slashes ensued. Lan Wangji heavily injured all 33 members. Everyone was very exhausted by this intense fight.</p><p>Lan Xichen went close to Lan Qiren and said in a low but strained voice, “Uncle. Wangji has lost his senses. I’m afraid he’ll keep fighting with us like this until we completely give up.”</p><p>Lan Qiren had already known that this was going to be the case. He nodded.</p><p>Wei Wuxian was still listlessly seeing all this, the chaos unfolding before him probably getting vaguely registered in his brain.</p><p>With great effort, Lan Xichen somehow managed to close in on Lan Wangji and hit his neck hard. A sharp pain rose from where he got hit and he fell hard on the ground, unconscious.</p><p>Though Wei Wuxian’s mind was in a severe muddled state, his body twitched for a split second while watching Lan Wangji fall.</p><p>Lan Qiren shouted in anger, “Take him back to the Cloud Recesses! A severe punishment awaits him!!”</p><p>Two of the senior disciples dragged their heavily injured bodies and cast a spell on Lan Wangji. They set off holding Lan Wangji up by his arms.</p><p>Lan Qiren turned his head towards Wei Wuxian and glared at him, yelling angrily, “This will not end well!! Retribution shall await you!” and angrily left on his sword to follow closely after the two disciples who carried Lan Wangji away just moments ago.</p><p>One by one, the remaining sect members also followed outside the cave behind Lan Qiren.</p><p>Lan Xichen was the only one left in the cave with Wei Wuxian now. He approached Wei Wuxian and on closely watching him, also immediately understood why Lan Wangji would protect a criminal like him. The miasma around Wei Wuxian was still just as thick as before and Wei Wuxian was but a puppet in control of the Stygian seal. Lan Xichen understood that the amplification of the slaughter earlier was exactly the result of the seal manipulating him. But whatever the reason might be, it still remained a fact that a huge number of people were killed and it would be very hard for Wei Wuxian himself or anyone else to defend his actions. He felt very complicated right now looking at the sorry state Wei Wuxian had been reduced to. He did acknowledge and appreciate Wei Wuxian’s skills as a cultivator. But this deviant path that he had taken up had raised many questions in Lan Xichen’s mind. Till the moment the slaughter occurred, Lan Xichen had believed than even if Wei Wuxian cultivates in the dark arts, he would not misuse this power. However, Wei Wuxian’s actions earlier had shattered that belief. Right in front of his very own eyes, Lan Xichen, similar to others who had associated with Wei Wuxian one way or another, had witnessed the jolly and intelligent young boy, who seemed to have a promising career ahead of him, quickly deviate towards a chaotic path that was doomed to a miserable end. As the only person who understood Lan Wangji and his thoughts extremely well, Lan Xichen also knew that the path ahead for his little brother and his one and only love was going to be filled with pain and torture. He was feeling helpless about all these thoughts circling in his mind.</p><p>He knelt in front of Wei Wuxian and with a slightly worried expression sighed. He said, “Young Master Wei, please just stay away from all cultivators for a good while. And stay safe. There is someone who will be devastated if something were to happen to you.”</p><p>Wei Wuxian simply raised his head a little and looked listlessly at Lan Xichen as he got up. Lan Xichen put up talismans and spells on the entrance of the cave so that it would remain invisible for at least a few days. Then he left quietly.</p><p>Wei Wuxian looked blurrily at the area of the ground where Lan Wangji had fallen unconscious. He finally collapsed on to the ground from the rock seat he was sitting on.</p><p>***</p><p>It had been 4 whole days before Wei Wuxian regained consciousness. He was still in the cave that Lan Wangji had hid him in. His head was throbbing, he was extremely dehydrated and very weak in body. He could not recollect how he got here. His mind was still blurry. The only positive thing was that the miasma radiating from the Stygian seal had dissipated now. Tears fell instantly from his eyes as soon as the memory of his beloved shijie dying in front of his eyes flooded his mind. He sat up wiping his tears and looked around the cave. Dragging his tired body, he went to the entrance of the cave and saw the talismans. From the writings on it, he recognized that they belonged to the Lan sect. He realised that him still staying alive must have been due to them. He wondered if it was Lan Wangji who helped him, but he dismissed the thought because the last thing he consciously remembered was him and Lan Wangji getting into a fight in the Nightless City. He could not recollect anything after the moment his shijie died. He took all the talismans from the entrance and burned them. On stepping outside, he saw that the cave was located quite high in this mountain and there was not even a tiny path that one could take to climb up or down from this cave. The only way to descend the mountain would be to climb down the jagged rocks and tree trunks poking out from random places on this mountain. Thus, he started to climb down. On the way down, he slipped, hit and cut his body many times on sharp edges of some rocks or dried tree branches. It was an arduous descent for his already beat-up body.</p><p>After finally reaching down the mountain, he walked around for quite some time before he saw a tiny village. There were only about 5 or 6 houses there. He sat below a huge tree just at the outskirts of this village, closing his eyes to rest for a little while. After a few minutes, when he opened his eyes, he saw a bamboo water bottle and three steamed buns kept by his side. One of the farmers had noticed him sleeping under the tree. He had taken pity on Wei Wuxian after seeing his poor health and appearance and had left the water and food for him. Wei Wuxian thanked the unknown person in his mind and ate the food and drank the water. He had a small bell attached with a hand-carved jade accessory which he had made long back. He had hoped that he will one day gift it to Lan Wangji. For some reason, he used to always carry this bell in his pocket. He took it out and placed it near the water bottle as a gesture of thanks and left. After walking for another short distance, he started recognising the surrounding areas. He was just entering the Yiling area. Lan Wangji had searched for a spot near Yiling to hide him with the thought that if something were to happen to him during the fight, Wei Wuxian would not be inconvenienced after he recovered and would find his way easily to Yiling. After a few more hours of journey, Wei Wuxian had slowly made his way back to the Burial Mounds.</p><p>The moment a few of the remaining Wen clan members sensed his arrival, they all rushed to meet him. Others followed immediately after. Some of them had very worried expressions, but still smiled genuinely with tears rolling down from their eyes on seeing their saviour back and intact. Wei Wuxian was extremely exhausted, but he still somehow awkwardly managed to console them not to be worried and that things are okay. Wen Yuan also caught sight of Wei Wuxian and ran towards him while crying loudly. He grabbed Wei Wuxian’s leg as tightly as he could and bawled. Wei Wuxian carried him in his arms with a lot of effort. Seeing him struggling, two of the Wen clan members also rushed to assist him, while asking whether they should carry Wen Yuan instead. But Wei Wuxian just weakly smiled at them, shaking his head to deny.</p><p>***</p><p>Lan Wangji jolted awake an hour after his seniors brought him back to Cloud Recesses and took a defensive stand immediately.</p><p>Lan Xichen, who had been sitting just some distance, saw him awake and called out in urgency, “Wangji, relax!”</p><p>Lan Wangji hadn’t yet realised that he was no longer in the cave defending Wei Wuxian. Only after Lan Xichen spoke just now did Lan Wangji take a quick look around while still remaining alert. He realised that he was in a confinement room of the Cloud Recesses.</p><p>Knowing what his little brother might have questions about, he spoke again, “Wangji, I’ve spoken with Uncle as well as the elders. Young Master Wei isn’t in danger right now. I have put up talismans so that the cave in which he is won’t be found for at least a few days.”</p><p>Lan Wangji was still standing stiffly, listening intently to his brother.</p><p>Lan Xichen continued, “We had a very rigorous discussion with the group leaders of different sects about what happened in the Nightless City. All cultivators are enraged from Young Master Wei’s behaviour. But they have promised not to do anything to him right now. However, Young Master Wei will be punished.”</p><p>Lan Wangji’s heart throbbed listening to this. He, of course, knew that no one was going to let him go for what he did. He also realised that he himself would also be punished for harming his elders and seniors the way he did. He spoke, “Elder Brother, I–”</p><p>Lan Xichen interrupted him in a firm tone, “You cannot take on the punishment on behalf of Young Master Wei.”</p><p>Lan Wangji clenched his fists tightly.</p><p>Lan Xichen instructed two other disciples present in the confinement room and they took Lan Wangji outside where Lan Qiren and the 33 seniors and elders, who Lan Wangji had injured, were present.</p><p>Lan Qiren was still very angry and heavily disappointed at Lan Wangji’s behaviour earlier. He asked him in a stern and grim tone, “Do you understand that you have committed not one, but two grave crimes?”</p><p>Lan Wangji was silent and stood straight but with his head lowered. He did understand that injuring his elders and seniors was a grave crime. But if he admitted to this wrong, then he would also be admitting to the first wrong of him trying to protect Wei Wuxian. And though how Wei Wuxian manipulated the corpses and killed so many cultivators was unacceptable, he was also being heavily manipulated by the Stygian seal. Thus, it was a big dilemma for Lan Wangji to say anything about this. And above all else, Wei Wuxian was his one and only love. He absolutely wouldn’t want any harm to come to Wei Wuxian under any circumstance. And so, Lan Wangji could only remain silent.</p><p>Lan Qiren instructed one of the disciples to bring the disciple whip. He handed it to Lan Xichen and said sternly, “Very well. Xichen.”</p><p>Lan Wangji knelt on the ground in front of the 33 sect members and received 33 severest whip lashes from Lan Xichen, one lash for each of the sect member Lan Wangji had injured that day. Throughout, when he was receiving each whip lash, only one prayer was looping inside his mind, ‘Let Wei Ying be safe’. Each of these whip lashes not just hurt him severely, but also diminished his spiritual energy. He had not rested for a second other than that one hour when he had passed out after Lan Xichen hit his neck to subdue him in the cave. He was physically and mentally completely exhausted. After receiving the last whip lash, he just weakly called out, “Wei Ying” and fainted. Even in his fainted stated, tears fell from his closed eyes.  </p><p>***</p><p>Three months later, Wei Wuxian was in his “home” in the Burial Mounds, trying yet again to think of an effective way to get rid of the Stygian seal for good. Wei Wuxian had been lucky to destroy one half of the seal, but the seal very quickly had developed its own defence mechanism against its possible complete destruction. The many times he tried to break the seal completely, the seal would sense the danger and take control of his body and thus he had been unsuccessful to fully destroy it. And so, Wei Wuxian had been cooped up in his home, trying to experiment on ways to not lose control of his body.</p><p>During these three months, members of different sects had also recuperated mostly and were more than ready to attack Wei Wuxian to avenge their clansmen and sect members.</p><p>It was a bright and sunny day and Wei Wuxian had been feeling particularly happy today. He had come up with a set of steps to once and for all rid the world of this disastrous Stygian seal. After he had his morning meal, he went to start work on it when he heard a commotion outside in which he heard people angrily demanding him to come out. Wei Wuxian was alert. He always knew that one day, cultivators would come to strike him down because they hated his guts and his dark art. Because his memory was still defective, he hadn’t really recollected once in these three months about what exactly happened after his shijie died. He had tried many times to remember, but every time he did, a sharp pain rose in his head and he had lost consciousness many times doing this. It was the spirit of the Stygian seal that had actually penetrated deep inside Wei Wuxian’s mind after one half of it was destroyed by him and had started manipulating even his memories.</p><p>Wei Wuxian commanded all Wen clan members to stay put in the innermost part of the cave. This part also had a small exit hole that they had dug up together for escape during an emergency. He went out of the cave with a grim expression on his face and the Stygian seal still in his hand. The moment the cultivators saw him, they started yelling at the top of their voices, “You murderer! How dare you stay alive and live this peacefully when you plunged our sect members into hell!”, “We avenge our fellow sect members today!”, “Prepare yourself!”, “You should just die!”, and all such hurtful profanities.</p><p>Wei Wuxian of course was also becoming angry and due to the gap in his memory, he could not understand just what he had done to deserve such harsh words. Just when the front rows were arguing with him, the back rows started pushing forward yelling, “Why are you still arguing with this monster?! Just attack!” Things quickly escalated and the cultivators started attacking Wei Wuxian with their swords. He quickly dodged the first batch of attacks and most of them missed his vital spots. Wei Wuxian put Chenqing to his lips and summoned a huge batch of corpses and evil spirits to fight the cultivators. History was about to repeat itself once again!</p><p>***</p><p>It was utter chaos in front of the cave where Wei Wuxian stayed. Each cultivator once again faced a similar situation as they or their fellow sect members, who had fallen in the previous battle, had faced on that dreadful night in the Nightless City. The corpses Wei Wuxian had summoned ganged up on few cultivators and the cultivators dropped their swords in horror in the face of this extreme overbearing evil energy in front of them, ready to devour them at any moment. And that is what happened. Some of the evil spirits rendered them paralyzed, and in that instance, the corpses pounced on them, tearing their flesh as if tearing pieces of thin paper.</p><p>While other cultivators were exerting a lot of effort to fight back the corpses and evil spirits running amok, one of the cultivators was quite fast and managed to sneak up on Wei Wuxian standing in a corner just outside his cave.</p><p>
  <strong>STAB!</strong>
</p><p>He managed to puncher Wei Wuxian’s abdomen, but missed his vital organs. While enduring the sharp pain of this stab with a lot of difficulty, Wei Wuxian pulled out his sword and struck a hard punch in this cultivator’s gut. That cultivator was sent flying about two metres away and crashed heavily on the ground. Where he fell, Wei Wuxian noticed a familiar figure. It was Jiang Cheng. He had just slayed some of the corpses that had attacked him when this cultivator whom Wei Wuxian punched landed near his feet. Seeing Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian’s heart skipped a beat and his body froze. Seeing him standing among the huge crowd of cultivators, who were here to take his life, shook Wei Wuxian immensely. He knew that Jiang Cheng was angry on him. But he still completely believed in him. He believed that Jiang Cheng would be the one person who will never aim to take his life. But what he saw with his eyes right now had erased this belief.  All the memories of that horrid battle in the Nightless City where he lost his dear shijie started flashing in Wei Wuxian’s mind yet again, choking his throat and dimming his other senses once again.</p><p>Because he had stopped playing the flute, the corpses were no longer being controlled by anything and so had fallen lifeless on the ground. Chenqing was still radiating an evil aura, the Stygian seal dangling from its end and swaying very lightly. The battle had suddenly come to a standstill. The cultivators caught their breaths while at the same time trying to gauge their heavy injuries.</p><p>Jiang Cheng glared at Wei Wuxian and shouted, “Wei Wuxian! Do you finally understand what you’ve become?!”</p><p>One of the cultivators shouted, “Why are you even conversing with this monster?! Just kill him! This world doesn’t need such an existence!”</p><p>Jiang Cheng shouted yet again, “Shut up!!”</p><p>Another cultivator shouted with suspicion, “Sect leader Jiang, I hope you’re not planning on backing off and siding with that monster.”</p><p>Jiang Cheng answered angrily, “If I were siding with him, would I even be here among you all?!”</p><p>Some three or four cultivators shouted, “Kill him! Kill him! He’s not playing his demonic flute right now! This is our chance!!”</p><p>Hearing this, the crowd of cultivators at once charged up pointing their swords at Wei Wuxian who was standing frozen. Wei Wuxian snapped out of his daze and once again put Chenqing to his lips. He played it furiously and once again the corpses yet again stood up and countered the cultivators. This time, 10 or so cultivators had already come up very close to Wei Wuxian and where about to stab him good this time, when suddenly, a thick miasma erupted from the Stygian seal. It enveloped not just the corpses, but also the cultivators that had come in close proximity of Wei Wuxian. The Stygian seal had taken control of Wei Wuxian in that instant and also had rendered all 10 cultivators to be paralyzed on the spot. The corpses devoured them ferociously yet again. But this time, they seemed extremely aggravated. The miasma from the Stygian seal spread slowly to all other cultivators who were yet again struggling heavily fighting the unruly corpses, some instantly loosing their lives. Seeing hell break loose, some cultivators backed off completely and ran away. Jiang Cheng was struggling to break free from the miasma’s influence while putting as much effort to slash at the corpses. He shouted, “WEI WUXIAN!!! YOU! STOP THIS HELLISH ACT RIGHT NOW!!!!”</p><p>But Wei Wuxian could no longer hear anything. His consciousness was under the control of the Stygian seal after all. He was still standing unmoving on the same spot at the corner in front of his cave and inside his mind was a single voice speaking in a low tone.</p><p>“Yiling Laozu… The monster… hahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!!!” That voice started with a laugh in a low volume and became louder and louder.</p><p>It was the spirit of the Stygian seal that was talking in his mind.</p><p>“You lost your golden core, then cultivated the demonic path. You were quite the strong one. There were others before you, who croaked when they came under the influence of a little miasma.”</p><p>“You fed me well at that battle in Nightless City. But you committed a grave a mistake.”</p><p>“YOU TRIED TO CONTROL AND DESTROY ME!!! SUCH ARROGANCE!!!”, the voice shouted in his mind.</p><p>Till now, in every battle that Wei Wuxian had fought, he had only amplified his demonic arts by using the Stygian seal’s power. And every person that got killed by Wei Wuxian’s demonic arts would infuse the Stygian seal with more dark power. Wei Wuxian had never tried to control the seal itself. But on that day of the battle in Nightless City, for the first time, he had tried to suppress the Stygian seal’s powers, he had tried to control it. And later, he had actually managed to destroy half of the seal. The spirit of the seal was much much older than Wei Wuxian. Of course, this was something an evil device with a powerful spirit attached to it would never be able to allow or accept. The Stygian seal’s spirit had been enraged and had waiting for an opportune moment, which it had finally got just now.</p><p>“You must bear the consequences of this,” the voice said in a low volume.</p><p>A sharp pain spiked in Wei Wuxian’s head and he fell to his knees.</p><p>Then, he heard a very familiar voice, “Wei Ying!!!”</p><p>It was Lan Wangji’s voice calling him out just after he had started the slaughter of the cultivators in the Nightless City that day. All the memories came rushing to his mind just like water breaking out with force the moment a door of a water dam is opened. The spirit of the Stygian seal had started unblocking Wei Wuxian’s memories one by one, but in a sequence it wanted. He recollected Lan Wangji carrying him that day to a cave to hide him. He recollected what Lan Wangji said to him in that cave,</p><p>“Wei Ying, please let me take you to Gusu. Please.”</p><p>“I will protect you with my life. Please let me take you to Gusu.”</p><p>“Please… please allow me to be with you.”</p><p>Though they both did not talk much with each other in the past few years, Lan Wangji still very much used to be on Wei Wuxian’s mind. He used to become very happy the moment he saw Lan Wangji by chance. Wei Wuxian had always always held deep feelings for Lan Wangji. It was just that among the ongoing chaos in his life, these feelings never had time to fully develop and come out of him. As these memories finally filled up in his mind, he realised for the first time how much Lan Wangji really meant to him. And for the first time, he also clearly understand just how desperate Lan Wangji was at that time to get his approval and to protect him. He could clearly see that Lan Wangji’s eyes held more than just friendship for him. The way he talked, the way he gently held his hand and passed his spiritual energy continuously, the way he looked at him, everything about him clearly displayed that Lan Wangji too held deep feelings for him.</p><p>Images of Lan Wangji falling unconscious on the ground as Lan Xichen hit his vital spot on the neck flashed in his mind. He could understand how grim the situation was since Lan Wangji had fought his own sect’s elders and senior disciples to try to secure Wei Wuxian’s freedom. This was an unforgivable act that would lead to Lan Wangji being punished severely. Wei Wuxian realised this as the images choked his mind. He recollected Lan Wangji unconscious body getting dragged away by his sect’s members.</p><p>Wei Wuxian cried out loudly clutching his head in despair and kneeling on the ground in agony as all this realisation came to him all at once.</p><p>Slowly, images of the slaughtering he committed in the Nightless City flooded his mind. He could hear the cries of cultivators shouting, yelling in pain and dying left, right and centre as he played Chenqing, unleasing corpses after corpses on them. He finally understood the grave crime he had committed that day. He would never be able to atone for this sin. His mind was in complete chaos. He felt breathless and his chest hurt really badly thinking of this. He was gasping for air, lying on the ground. The tears flooding his eyes made his vision completely blurry.</p><p>Jiang Cheng was continuously shouting at it, “Wei Wuxian!! WEI WUXIAN!!”</p><p>But it all fell on deaf ears. Some of the cultivators tried to drag Jiang Cheng away complaining, “We knew it!!! You ARE on his side after all!!!”</p><p>Jiang Cheng struggled with those cultivators yelling angrily, “LET GO!! LET GO!!!”</p><p>“Get lost.”</p><p>This final piece of memory that entered in Wei Wuxian’s mind connected all the sequence of events that occurred on that day of chaos. Those words rang loudly in his mind. It was as if someone had stabbed his heart deeply and gouged it out. He finally recollected how he had reacted to Lan Wangji’s desperate pleas that day. The only person in the world who wholeheartedly accepted him and stood by his side till the very end was Lan Wangji. He pushed this one person away. He pushed that precious tiny ray of hope that he had finally been able to see from his recollected memories. The last hope of happiness that still warmed his heart deeply died with the words “Get Lost”.</p><p>But these words were not for Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian was telling the evil spirits within the miasma surrounding him to “Get lost”. That day within the cave, when Wei Wuxian was in sitting listlessly on the rock, the Stygian seal spirit was actually trying to manipulate Wei Wuxian to play his flute and summon corpses to slaughter Lan Wangji.</p><p>“Come on, you can surely do it. Just a little push. Feed this strong spirit in front of you to me. He’s so close to you too~! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA—!!!”, the vile spirit of the seal spoke in Wei Wuxian’s mind.</p><p>Though Wei Wuxian’s mind was in chaos, his subconsciousness had somehow sensed that it was Lan Wangji who was with him in this cave and so, even in his completely exhausted and muddled state, he had somehow managed to not let the Stygian seal manipulate his body. Of course, Lan Wangji would not be able to understand this internal conflict going on in Wei Wuxian’s mind. And as a result, he had taken these words “Get lost”, as the answer Wei Wuxian gave to his desperate pleas.</p><p>This was it. He wanted nothing now but death.</p><p>“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—!!!” The Stygian seal’s spirit laughed maniacally in his head.</p><p>The evil miasma radiating from the seal slowly encircled Wei Wuxian. The fierce corpses were very quickly drawn to it. They jumped on Wei Wuxian to tear him apart. As his flesh was started to be torn, it was a tiny span where the seal’s spirit lost control of Wei Wuxian’s body. In that moment, Wei Wuxian grabbed that seal dangling from Chenqing.</p><p>
  <strong>SNAP!</strong>
</p><p>The Stygian seal was broken!</p><p>Wei Wuxian had mustered up an inhuman strength somehow and had shattered this evil device and dispersed its spirit in this tiny span. A whirlwind surrounded Wei Wuxian’s hand at that instant. Amongst the howls of those fierce corpses tearing him apart and countless more voices of trapped resentful spirits within the seal bursting out in force, Wei Wuxian closed his eyes. In his mind, he just called out to Lan Wangji one last time, “Lan Zhan…” and took his final breath while tears still rolled down from his eyes till the last bit of him was gone.</p><p>Jiang Cheng saw this horror unfold before his eyes. He gathered immense strength in his arms and legs and flung the cultivators pulling him away. He ran wildly towards Wei Wuxian’s disappearing figure while calling out for him, shouting at the top of his lungs. He lunged out to catch Wei Wuxian’s remaining form, but the whirlwind that was initially surrounding just his hand had by now surrounded a large area around where Wei Wuxian was standing. It violently pushed Jiang Cheng back by a few meters. When the whirlwind finally stopped, not only was Wei Wuxian gone, but so were the large number of fierce corpses and evil spirits floating around.</p><p>The Wen clan members who were all hiding inside that deep cave had heard all this chaos going on outside. They were scared witless and some were utterly frozen. A long time passed before they all slowly came out to see what had happened. But the moment they stepped outside the cave, they were ambushed by the cultivators who had come to avenge their near and dear ones. One of the Wen clan members successfully dodged the attacks of the cultivators, took Wen Yuan and ran as fast as he could towards the emergency exit that they had dug up. He ran for a long time and reached the far edge of the Burial Mound. There were a number of big broken trees in this area. The trees were old, some still alive, some had already dried up but had wide trunks that had withstood the harsh beatings of weather. This Wen clan member gently sat Wen Yuan in one such tree trunk which was hollow from the inside and wide enough to hide a small child. He quickly instructed him to not come out of the trunk till one of the people he recognised was seen. Wen Yuan was in tears and unwilling to let go of this uncle. But the uncle simply squeezed Wen Yuan’s hand a little and tried to assure him, “Don’t cry. We’ll come to get you very soon.” He patted Wen Yuan’s head and ran off towards the direction of Wei Wuxian’s cave to help out the others to fight back.</p><p>He was the last person to get slaughtered by the raging cultivators that day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading this story. 🙏</p><p>This story had been on my mind for quite some time because I always wondered how things might have unfolded just after that chaos Wei Wuxian unleashed on the 3000 cultivators. I hope I was able to put up a coherent picture of the sequence of events.</p><p>Please, please do let me know your thoughts. Anything at all. I'd love to read them :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
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